The next day, there was a long queue outside their door early in the morning. Considering that Weeks likes to sleep in, Jacob ends up doing something he hadn't considered before: helping those suffering from illness.

It turns out that there is no difference between prescribing treatment and dismantling a corpse, although the former is rather boring, since almost everyone who comes to him needs treatment for STDs of one kind or another.

When the thief finally woke up and put on his crimson governor's robes, Jacob told him which type of medicine to take for which type of warts, herpes, infections, etc. In addition, he gave him clear instructions to go to the laboratory to bother him only if there was something serious, or if his medicines were out of stock and a new batch of medicines was needed. The studious little boy had memorized their list of medicines and seemed to instinctively know what powders and pills were working and how to remake them and how to increase their potency just by looking at them.

In the evening, all their medicines for venereal diseases were sold out, and Jacob ordered the pretending priest to close the shop for a day.

"I think I'll have to tell you how to produce some selected medicines yourself," he said to Weeks, as he had been interrupted 18 times in five hours, and he was carefully dismembering the dead servants.

"The owner...... If I had known that I could make so much money entertaining customers at an amusement park, I wouldn't have stolen anything. ”

Jacob had to admit that their profits were staggering, as the aristocracy seemed to care more about their sexuality and reputation for purity than their wallets.

"Tomorrow morning, I want you to buy some more of these ingredients," Jacob told him, giving Weeks a long list. Many of the plants they use to make medicine are on the list, but there are also some things that are clearly just used to replace tools and materials that were lost in previous labs.

"What do you want cow dung for?"

"Fertilizer".

"Aha...... And this, does it say 'Three-Life Fitness'?"

"I must be mistaken, this should be on Heskel's list."

Wex scratched the piece of skin next to the right corner in embarrassment.

"And how much should I spend?"

"I don't care."

"Can I keep the remaining coins?"

"Does that motivate you?"

"Motivate me? I'm willing to run to Ma

ket West went to buy the cheap ones so I could keep a good sum of money for myself, unfortunately the market seems to have dried up lately, so I guess I can only make do with a small penny. ”

The little boy giggled, and through his scent mask, the voice sounded unsettling. It was the first time Wex had heard him laugh. The boy seemed to notice, too, and before he could show any more emotion, he quickly hid in the basement.

"Alright......" Wex muttered. How much can I steal? How much do I need to buy?"

The next three weeks were relatively peaceful, with only a few bickerings in their shop: for example, a customer came back to demand a ridiculous sum of money for buying the wrong medicine and suffering from impotence due to Weeks' lack of experience in dispensing medicines; On another occasion, a nobleman was furious that he didn't have any drugs to increase his masculinity and "sword chief", so he sent guards against Weeks, only to be beaten to pulp after Heskel appeared in time.

During the break, Wex leaned back in his chair, his hooves resting on the workbench, humming a song contentedly while admiring the latest ring on his right index finger. It was a coiled jade snake devouring an apple-shaped ruby, and in the gem area, he spent 4200 Novalin. In addition to this ring, he had six other rings of different patterns and metals that he wore on his clawed hand, even though it was his most expensive ring to date.

Those who whispered were so pleased with his recent windfall that he found that every time he bought something new, ostentatious, a warmth spread throughout his body, while those who whispered praised him endlessly.

The thief-turned-apothecary had also visited the entertainment district several times, which was suspiciously close to the harbor, and was now all too familiar with the medicines he had concocted and peddled himself.

His composure was abruptly interrupted by a woman dressed in torn brown, who gasped and burst in. She was beautiful, though her red eyes betrayed a wildness beneath her beautiful exterior, and her curly and messy brown hair didn't help.

"Don't move! Also, give me all your coins! She shouted, locking the door behind her, pointing a blood-stained sword at his face. With a simple lunge, she could clear the gap between them and slit his throat.

Weeks laughed, licking his sharp teeth with his forked tongue. He's not sure when his tongue and teeth have changed, but it's far from the only recent change in his body.

"Are you running away, miss?"

He pulls the hood open with his ring-worn paws, revealing curved horns, orange-yellow eyes, and pale green scales.

Before she could reply, he jumped up from his seat, threw her to the floor, grabbed her by the throat with his palm, his sharp claws digging into the wood beneath her, and his knees resting on her sword-holding arm.

She glared into his eyes and said, "I killed my previous master, and I need a place to hide from those who avenged him."

"That's much better," he said, his face just a palm's throw from hers. "No one can take my property and my life."

Weeks pulled his claws out of the wooden floor, stood up, and held out his left hand to her.

"Let's see what the boss has to say."

The "avatar" led Sieg down the dark staircase, and at a glance she could see which step he was taking, and she was careful with each step. At the bottom, a heavy door leads to a large basement about three meters from the ceiling, and a foul stench wafts towards her, causing her to freeze before the avatar grabs her wrist and forces her forward without question.

He was a far cry from the first incarnation she had ever seen, though his demeanor was different from the laziness and cruelty of those she had known in the past.

When she stood in the mourning hall in the basement, all her thoughts about demons vanished. She saw a thin figure, dressed in a bulbous, obnoxious hooded apron, which she immediately recognized as flesh, leaning against a large stone altar with an elaborate skeleton, though not a creature she was familiar with.

"Boss," the avatar said to the short man.

Without warning, a large silhouette appeared behind the bone picker, masked faces staring straight at her.

The "boss" looked up from her work, noticed her appearance, and then lowered her head again, looking at her work with no interest.

"She was moved," the thin back groaned ominously. He spoke a language she had only recently mastered: Spanish.

The man of the bones looked back at her, scrutinizing her countenance.

"Are you sure?" His voice was young enough to convince her that it was not a man in a terrible robe, but a boy.

The giant grunted.

"I must have lost my sense of touch." He turned to the incarnate governor. "Vickers, where did you find this?"

"I don't," he replied, perhaps for her sake, for which he now spoke Novarosian. "She came to me. My luck seems to be getting better and better. ”

"Yes," the boy replied blandly in the same language.

"Wex" pulled slightly, but with great force, pulled her in front of him and knelt in front of his master. It seems strange that an avatar in a priest's robe is so subservient to a bone picker. Then again, the boy in the ugly flesh-seam robe did have a sense of majesty, so maybe she was missing something obvious.

Before her fate was decided by the incarnated master, she quickly said in a trembling Spanish: "My name is Sieg the Eyeless, and I was formerly a slave of Governor William. I've mastered the Blood-Lowering Curse!"

"You speak an old language?" The boy asked in Novarosian, his young voice sounding innocent and majestic.

Sieg nodded eagerly. "I did it! Please spare me! I killed my previous owner and sought refuge to avoid revenge, but in return I will be free to share everything I know!"

"You can tell us who the Eyeless Man is first."

She was stunned for a moment, because they didn't know, but they could speak Chiton fluently. She realizes that they don't know anything about what happened in the North Market, the Harbor, and the aristocratic quarter. She had an urge to lie to them, but her instinct told her that it was stupid, and so far it had always led her to tell the truth.

"This is the worship of the nobles and the governors, who worship the Lady of Skinning."

The boy laughed arrogantly, his red mask spewing out puffs of air, "That's why you call yourself the Eyeless...... So arrogant, he believed that he could subvert the will of the watcher. ”

Lady Skinning was once a vassal of the Worldwatcher, but she has gained enough power to challenge his iron-fisted rule over the interstellar void. In the grand scheme of things, the cult of the Eyeless is an impotent and insignificant game, the play of idle nobles and money-strapped governors, who therefore entertain the walking purse with esoteric rituals and loves. But Governor William held the real power, which was granted to him by Madame. But she's a fickle mistress who finds endless pleasure in intrigue and betrayal, so as soon as she gives him power, she gives Seeger enough power to kill him when the right opportunity arises.

The giant muttered something, and his master nodded thoughtfully.

"You can stay. Your arrival will be interesting, and while I doubt I will learn much from you, you are welcome to prove me wrong.

But do not leave this place, for I will find out and kill you. These are my conditions, do you agree?"

"Yes, sir!"

She could almost hear his smile as he said, "Well, as the watchmen testify, the contract has been formed."

Sigurt fell to his knees, and Vickers, the avatar, returned to the apothecary.

"You can call me Jacob," said the boy, "and I hate clichés and flattery." ”

"I won't forget!"

"Good. Right now... The Blood-Lowering Charm will help me in my work," he began, but seeing her grimace, he added, "Still, if you don't have an appetite, you can give Weeks upstairs a little use." ”

She bowed quickly, and walked quickly upstairs behind the avatar, wondering if she had walked into the cobwebs from the wolf's den. Considering that the boy is a believer in the Watchmen, her days seem to be numbered, but Sieg believes that Madame Skinning still has plans for her, and all she needs is waiting time.

"I know, I know," Jacob said to an enraged Heskel. "Such a brutal little brute must be punished. But I'll have to think about what kind of punishment is enough. It would be too merciful to kill her. ”

It was simply strange to Jacob, a man who knew enough about the Chittonian language to speak it, despite the unstable sound and many defects in tone, and who knew the Almighty of Heaven to choose to stand in opposition to the Night's Watch, whose eyes saw the past, present, and future. It's similar to setting yourself on fire and then giving up water that can put out a fire.

Without the Watcher, the Void turned into unfettered chaos, and all rituals lost their power. The contract becomes uncertain and the summons become fraught with danger as their summons may generate anything strange to investigate. In such a universe full of terrifying powers, the watchman is the guardian who keeps everything in balance. The skinned woman is a clear proof of betrayal and betrayal, and in his opinion, putting such a vile god before God is the most extreme heresy.

"How long have you been an avatar?" When Wex told Seeger where to buy from the box he handed her, Seeger dared to ask.

"I don't know what that means. But if you work silently until the stock is replenished, I will accommodate you. ”

She began to stack dried herbs, magic stones, medicine in the medicine box, pure water, medicine bottles of various oils, and so on. As she spent about forty minutes replenishing the contents of each shelf, Wex leaned back in her chair with her hooves resting on the countertop, a pleasant smile on her face.

"What a mistake you made to be honest with your boss. I don't know who this lady you adore is, but I've never seen him so angry. Trust me, you shouldn't have trouble with him......"

"I've been through more suffering than you think; A little boy collecting bones was no threat to me. ”

"Oh, of course, why are you still here?" Deep down, you know it's beyond your reach. It may be much better to let the wolf bite your heel than to let him do whatever he wants. ”

"It's the most convenient place for me to hide," she lied, trying to change the subject, "you said you would answer my question about when you became an avatar." ”

Wex giggled, his voice low and harsh. In his opinion, Sigurt was no different from the petty aristocrats who considered themselves masterminds, and they forced the young men to serve them, just as he himself ended up employing Toby.

He pointed to his horns, claws, and hooves and said, "Is this what you call an 'incarnation'?"

"Yes, and tongues, fangs, tails, and scales......"

"Oh, by the way, I forgot about the tail......" he replied, flicking his tail under the crimson robes. But whatever you're referring to, most of these changes are a reward for my service to the Boss, and the rest happens naturally. ”

"He- he changed your body?"

"That's right. He's a butcher. ”

"Never have I ever met an avatar who didn't make a pact with a demon. The changes in your body are almost identical, but your horns are bigger than anything I've ever seen. ”

"I'm telling you," he said abruptly over to her and poked her forehead with his clawed index finger, "I'm not an 'avatar.'" ”

"So you don't have demonic powers?"

"Nope. Unless you count my cunning as well," he replied with a sleek smile, his face still pressed against hers.

"Didn't you hear a voice telling you what to do?"

"Hmm," he replied, scratching the bottom of the right corner.

"Then you do hear the voice," she concluded.

"Of course, that's what we'll call them."

"But no superpowers?" Really?"

"Really."

"It's a pity; Even the humblest incarnations are endowed with immense power, according to the evil saints they choose. ”

Wex drew the mirror blade from his robes. Ever since he got it from the Demonist's library, it had never left his body. "When I found out about this, the sound started. Maybe there are changes. But I'll tell you, the rest was done by Jacob. He just transformed me into what I wanted to be, thanks to those whispers. ”

"But you're exactly like half a demon!"

"So what? He is no stranger to demons. ”

"Let me see—" Sieg reached for the dagger, but before she could get to the shiny dagger Vex carefully pulled the sword away and grabbed her head with his clawed right hand. Claw-like nails dug deep into the skin and flesh of her cheeks and forehead, but instead of cowering in fear and pain, she simply froze.

"Yes. No. Contact. It's mine. He hissed, his voice like a nervous cobra, ready to rush up and bite down with its fangs.

He pulled his nails out of her head, letting a large amount of blood splatter onto the floor of the apothecary's shop, between the neatly stacked stockpiles.

"Don't ask," he told her. "Clean up your mess, the noon rush is about to begin."

Since they opened, there has been a sudden influx of customers every day at noon, begging for a cure for their ailments, and most of them have woken up after a night of indulgence in the entertainment area to find their pleasure accompanied by a strong burning aftertaste.

Before he could get back to his chair, Sieg said to him, "I can figure out what kind of demon is controlling you."

Later that night, Wex "borrowed" some blood from Jacob's lab and brought it to the attic, where Sieg was waiting for him. It took her about an hour, carefully drawing a ritual circle with a seven-point chart and a different demon symbol on each of the seven dots.

Surprisingly, he understood what it did and how it worked. In fact, it's so basic demonology that even a simple-minded little demon can perform rituals.

"It's a soul compass," he said.

"How do you know?"

Veks shrugged.

"I'm almost terrified, to know what saint is dominating you. If it gives you insight into demonology and the underworld, it must be very powerful. Depending on the saint, this can mean terrible things. ”

"For example?"

"Well, there's a good chance you'll involuntarily manifest a demon possessed by you, and if that demon is a powerful servant of laziness, pride, or jealousy, then the region and all the people around it are doomed."

Veks giggled. "They're done. The prodigy was in town, and he left behind a mess when he left. ”

Sigurt didn't understand the joke, but then again, there's no way Weeks could have told her directly that Jacob had summoned the Viscountess of Greedy City, so it was best not to let her know.

"Anyway, come to the circle."

Disobediently ignoring her instructions, Wex pulled out his mirror blade and slid it across his right palm, blood dripping into the center of the ritual circle.

"What are you—" Sieg scolded him like a teacher, but then stopped. The ritual worked, as Weeks had expected. This is a rough and oversized reinterpretation of what should be a simple painting, with a brush and no more than a hand in diameter. It is clear that Seeger's version of the Soul Compass Ritual is someone misunderstood how it works, as it is the size of a summoning circle that allows one to stand inside.

The function of the ritual is simple: each of the seven symbols representing the Seven Treasures of Evil is like a magnet, attracting something similar to it. The Soul Compass ritual can be extended or restricted to include or remove certain entities where you are comparing souls. This ritual is usually performed by the clergy of the Eight Saints to ensure that their followers remain loyal and undegenerate, albeit in a stylized version that does not betray its demonic origins. Also, the blood is the catalyst, so one doesn't need to stand in the ritual for it to work.

A yellow flame rose from the center of the ceremony, as if Weeks' blood was combustible oil. The flame continued to expand until it encircled the ritual circle and all the lines that made up the sevenfold, then quickly rose to the ceiling and then disappeared, leaving the blood in the middle untouched, not one of the seven symbols. The rest of the blood that had been smeared on the ritual was charred and turned black.

The remaining symbol is the demon's "greed", depicted as an abstract silhouette of a mask with huge curved horns and a slanted smile sticking out of its tongue like a snake.

Although the usurpation of Sigurg's power caught her off guard, she was relieved when she saw that it was not a symbol of the three sinners mentioned above.

"Now it's your turn," Wex said, grabbing the bucket of blood and the simple brush that Sigur had used.

While she didn't seem interested in sharing, the fake governor's tone didn't give her room to argue.

Within five minutes, Wex had written a smaller, simpler version of what Sieg had taken an hour to write, and he didn't stop to check his lines once because he knew they were true.

Before Sieg could ask a question, he grabbed her hand and slashed her thumb with one of his paws, her blood dripping in the center of her pleura.

This time a cloudy green flame appeared, leaving three symbols on the bloodstain. The signs of pride and jealousy leave no scars, and the signs of anger are slightly erased by the flames, which means that it is not as prominent as the first two.

Sigur stared at it all with surprise, frustration, and fascination. "I didn't know that the soul compass could be executed in such a way, even in someone like me who didn't swear allegiance to the Seven Sinners."

Veks laughed. "It seems that you don't know anything about what you say. I suspect the boss would be happy to hear the news. I mean, do you think you can use these trivial rituals to alleviate his anger?"

"I-"

"If I were you, I'd get as far away from him as I could before he found out."

"He said he would kill me if I left this place."

"Are you willing to take the risk?" To be honest, I don't know which fate is worse, but you'd better find a way to make a good impression on him before he makes a decision for you, or you'll have to leave when I get back. Maybe if you leave now, you're free to live for a day or two. ”

Sieg looked panicked, like a desperate animal. It's clear that she's much more complicated than she's trying to convince herself. If it weren't for her arrogance and ignorance, the former thieves would have sympathized with her. Indeed, even without demons tormenting her, emotions of pride and jealousy dominated her soul.

She was still sitting in the attic when he left the "pharmacist".